Iceland: A Comment

Abstract

North-West England was the site of Britain's first canal and of one of the last true canal warehouses. The Duke's Warehouse in the Castlefield Canal Basin in Manchester was the first canal warehouse to have the classic design features of internal canal arms, multi-storeys, split level loading, terracing and water powered hoists, and was built between 1769 and 1771. The Great Northern Warehouse, in the centre of Manchester, was the last of the monumental road, rail and canal interchanges to be built in the Victorian period. Finished in 1898, it marked the close of the canal warehouse tradition and the beginning of motorised road transport storage. Between the two buildings were nearly 130 years of innovation and change. With at least 58 surviving canal warehouses across the region, from Kendal in the north to Bunbury in the south, North-West England contains one of the largest, and most important, groups of canal warehouses in Europe (Figures 1 and 2). As general purpose redistribution centres they were a vital element in feeding the rapidly growing industrial urban populations of the region. Furthermore, their design influenced the building of the first railway warehouses, and later the textile warehouse, and although the canals were superseded by the railway, the canal warehouse remained an important element of the transport economy until the arrival of road haulage in the 1920s. This paper is based upon research undertaken by the author in 2000 and 2001 as part of the Tameside Archaeological Survey. This is a landscape archaeology project funded by Tameside MBC and undertaken on their behalf by the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit.     

Northward,upward: stories of train travel,and the journey towards white South African nationhood, 1895–1950

Rhodes' ‘Cape-to-Cairo’ vision was more than a road, rail and telegraph route linking the two extremities of imperially-controlled Africa; it was also an imaginary axis that gathered around it a range of cultural ‘epiphenomena’ during the early twentieth century. This paper examines one of these, accounts of the Cape-to-Rand railway journey, which first appeared in the 1890s, and became a common trope in travel-writing about South Africa until after World War II. These accounts, which appeared in everything from personal memoirs to travel books and were written by visitors as well as South Africans, helped localize and naturalize the ‘spatial story’ of imperialism during the period when South Africa was emerging as a modern, autonomous nation. A recurring set of textual strategies in these accounts rehearsed a particular bodily subjectivity towards landscape, while at the same time incorporating the new nation's physiographic regions into a historically and geographically-legible whole. The Cape-to-Rand railway journey became a discursive trope in which culturally-constructed ideas about landscape and identity were protected and saved.     

‘On the Road to Mandalay’: The Development of Railways in British Burma, 1870–1900

ABSTRACT

This article examines the history of railway development in British Burma between 1870 until 1900. In particular, it focuses on how railways and public works projects became a key site of contestation about Burma’s prospects, value, and future during the late nineteenth century, as well as how a litany of agents – both official and non-official – influenced the path of railway development in the colony. This article not only reveals the difficulties and disputes that impacted railway construction in Burma, but also how these debates led to the eventual privatisation of Burma’s railway system in the 1890s. In doing so, this article demonstrates how myriad agents with often competing aims affected the colony’s social and economic development, as well as how the results of these debates and the subsequent construction of railways produced a new geography of occupation in British Burma.     

河南渑池笃忠遗址2006年发掘简报

为配合郑西客运专线工程建设,2006年6月至10月,河南省文物考古研究所对渑池县笃忠遗址进行了考古发掘,共清理灰坑104个,墓葬2座,灰沟1条。除墓葬和灰沟的年代较晚外,其余104个灰坑皆属新石器时期遗存,是此次发掘的主要收获。     

Stephenson’s Roundhouse in Context: Excavations at the Stratford Locomotive and Carriage Works,London Borough of Newham

This article explores the findings of a developer-funded archaeological investigation undertaken by Pre-Construct Archaeology at the Eastern Counties Railway’s Stratford Works, Angel Lane, London Borough of Newham. The investigations revealed truncated walls and in situ floor surfaces of terraced housing, as well as an early engine house and associated structures, constructed in accord with a design of Robert Stephenson’s. With a construction date of 1840, it represents an early example of a railway roundhouse, the first in London. In Britain, developer-funded archaeological projects have resulted in the preservation by record of several comparable sites prior to their adaptive reuse or demolition in recent years. As well as contextualising the results of the excavation more generally, this article therefore aims to improve the understanding of the evolution and life-history of the Stratford roundhouse and its environs, as well as British railway roundhouses more generally, via a comparative approach, the ultimate aim being to demonstrate that developments within the excavated sections of the Stratford site fit within a broader architectural, archaeological, and historical narrative.     

Reburial in the context of development: Approaches to reburial in the English planning process

Abstract

Rescue archaeology in England is now firmly embedded in the planning process, following the introduction by the UK government of Planning Policy Guidance Note 16 in 1990 (PPG 16; Departmentof the Environment. Planning Policy Guidance Note 16 — Archaeology and Planning. HMSO, London (1990)). The basic premise of PPG 16 is a strong preference for in situ preservation of nationally important archaeological remains. This often includes reburial of archaeology prior to construction activity, once it has been exposed in test-pitting (‘evaluations’) or full excavation. Reburial strategies are often prepared by civil engineers and there appears to be an overemphasis on consideration of the potential physical impacts on the archaeology. These strategies usually include the use of geotextiles and sand, or other graded material, chosen for its particular particle size/shape characteristics. A greater awareness of the chemical and physical characteristics of a burial environment is now required to ensure that reburial is effective. Archaeologists and conservators are beginning to consider both the natural and, increasingly, the ‘man-made’ (industrial, domestic and agricultural) changes to the soil chemistry of an archaeological site. More use needs to be made of the potential information ‘locked up’ in the artefactual material retrieved from evaluations and excavation nearby. An assessment of the degree of preservation of material should be an integral component for the design of a reburial strategy.     

Conceptualising differently-mobile passengers: geographies of everyday encumbrance in the railway station

This paper develops ideas of differential mobility at the scale of the ‘everyday’ by investigating some of the complex relationships between mobility and immobility; facilitation and encumbrance when moving through railway stations. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research with rail passengers in Britain, the first section explores the entangled relationship between differently-mobile bodies and the station by considering some of the tensions that emerge between experiences of encumbrance and facilitation. Focus here is on how navigating through the station with different mobile objects, or ‘prostheses’, impacts on passengers in a variety of ways. Drawing on insights from science, technology and society studies, it demonstrates how moving with different objects gives rise to fluid apprehensions of both mobile objects and the built form of the station itself. However, and importantly, this section suggests that this fluidity also has the capacity to disrupt the intended affective dimensions of the built form. The second section explores how differently-mobile passengers move through the station with these mobile objects. Drawing on de Certeau's notion of ‘tactics’ and Ingold's idea of the ‘taskscape’, this section pulls out some of the practical knowledges that, through repetition, develop into skills and techniques for moving. In doing so, this paper seeks to illuminate some of the complex relationships between mobility, prosthetics, encumbrance and affectivity that emerge when moving through the railway station.     

Linking Land and Navy: archaeological investigations at the site of the Woolwich Royal Dockyard,south‐eastern England

This paper outlines the archaeological evidence found at the demolished Royal Naval Dockyard at Woolwich for the development and construction of dockyard structures of the 18th to early‐19th centuries. This is set within the framework provided by historic, documentary, map and historic‐model evidence. The results of earlier excavations at the same facility are also reviewed. The themes covered include; the interplay of ‘carpentry’ versus ‘shipwrightry’ in dockyard construction, aspects of naval timber‐supply and landscape, the recycling of ships' timbers, dockyard craft specialisation and changing relative sea‐levels. © 2011 Pre‐Construct Archaeology Limited     

The BBC and decentralisation: the pilgrimage to Manchester

This research critically analyses the decentralisation of the BBC’s Department of Religion and Ethics, from its base in London to the office of BBC Manchester in 1994. It examines the rationale behind the BBC’s decision to move this production unit, and analyses the long-term impact of this policy on both the logistics and programme-making culture of the unit. Using interviews with staff working within the department at the time of the move, this research demonstrates how policy decisions such as this are negotiated by professionals within the Corporation and the conflicts which arise around efficiency and equality. The case of the Department of Religion and Ethics also provides important lessons for the future decentralisation of BBC departments to Salford Quays which is due to be implemented in 2011.     

Mind the gap: Town planning and Manchester's local railway network: 1947–1996

This article uses Manchester as a case study to explore post‐war relationships in Britain between local rail networks and urban form. During this period, Manchester's rail network has been severely rationalized with only limited investment in new infrastructure, although local services have been underpinned by public subsidy. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was little formal land use planning policy with regard to the rail network, but in the late 1970s strategic policies crystallized which sought to steer major activity generators to nodalities generally well‐served by public transport. However, these policies were undermined in the 1980s by Thatcherite deregulation. The early 1990s has seen more positive trends with the opening of Manchester's light rail line and the development nationally of policies aimed at creating more sustainable urban form through synergy between local rail networks and urban development. But there is evidence of counter‐trends and the whole future of the rail system has been thrown into doubt because of rail privatization. Conclusions are drawn that focus on the need for changes in the institutional arrangements for transport planning and strategic town planning through the creation of a strong regional tier of government, as found in other EU countries.     

Excavating ‘Hell Upon Earth’ Towards a Research Framework for the Archaeological Investigation of Workers’ Housing: Case Studies from Manchester,UK

This paper uses 16 years of targeted fieldwork on excavating workers’ housing in the Manchester region, UK, to assess a variety of research approaches to the investigation of urban industrial housing of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Manchester was one of the ‘shock’ cities of industrial Britain, and a honey pot for social commentary during the Victorian period. Using data from more than 30 excavation sites, it looks at the way in which archaeological evidence can be used to explore issues around house build quality, overcrowding, sanitation and disease, and reconstructing households from their material remains. Manchester's reputation for poor living conditions during the industrialising period was crystallised around the comments of contemporary social commentators from Engels to Gaskell. Yet, the archaeological evidence reviewed in this article demonstrates the value of archaeological approaches in challenging and testing such views through detailed case studies. More importantly, it shows that archaeological material can be used to study directly features of the new industrialised form of urban living, providing a set of research questions applicable across the industrial urban workers’ housing of Britain.     

‘Affirmative Signalling’: Dickens’s Railway Journalism and Victorian Risk Society

This essay explores Charles Dickens’s railway journalism of the 1850s and 1860s and its differences from his more well-known fictional accounts of the British railway network. While fictional works such as Dombey and Son and ‘The Signalman’ emphasize the catastrophic aspects of railway accidents, Dickens’s journalism in Household Words and All the Year Round examines the modern systematicity of the railway network, which by its nature as system, necessitated accidents on the lines. The essay incorporates theoretical readings of risk by Ulrich Beck and Paul Virilio into its critical assessment of Dickens’s railway journalism. Fundamentally, it aims to demonstrate that Dickens’s railway journalism illuminates the complexity of Victorian narratives of technological and bureaucratic industrial and transport systems by prioritizing the global dimensions of systematic accidents over the period’s tendencies to focus merely on local accidental events.     

Poverty,Emigration And Family: Experiencing Childhood Poverty In Late Nineteenth-Century Manchester

The Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuge offered a place of sanctuary for destitute children. It expanded rapidly during the late-nineteenth century and established a number of homes that catered for a range of childhood needs. This article focuses on the experience of children admitted to the Refuge and subsequently emigrated from one of its orphan home. It considers the processes of child migration by examining the relationships between the home and the family. The analysis questions middle-class ideas about the parenting of poor families, the economic motives behind emigration, and introduces a number of case studies to evaluate whether emigration achieved its goal of leading children towards a respectable life away from the city.     

Rainton Bridge South Waggonway

Abstract

The waggonways of the north-east of England represented one of the earliest widespread forms of early railway technology; they were in time to evolve into the modern railway as it was adopted worldwide. However, there has been comparatively little opportunity to carry out detailed archaeological examination of specific sites. Recently, Pre-Construct Archaeology Limited has been able to record the remains of an 18th-century waggonway at Rainton Bridge South, Houghton-le-Spring, which has added significantly to understanding of how these systems evolved and how their archaeology survives.     

Excavating the 18th- and 19th-Century Urban Flour Mill: the Example of the Archaeological Investigations at the Former J.A. Symes Factory Site,Highbridge Road,Barking

Abstract

The area occupied by the former J.A. Symes match factory, Highbridge Road, Barking, was once home to a large steam- and water-powered flourmill. The mill was originally driven by the tidal flow of the River Roding, prior to its expansion and gradual conversion to steam. A residential redevelopment, undertaken in spring 2006, provided an opportunity to conduct a developer-funded archaeological investigation, carried out by Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd. The excavation exposed the partial, multi-phase remains of the mill's below-ground foundations, in particular the evidence for successive power systems. These remains were interpreted with the help of documentary research, demonstrating the complementary nature of these two forms of evidence on an urban industrial site.     

Untangling creativity and art for policy purposes: ethnographic insights on Manchester International Festival and Manchester Day Parade

This paper draws on anthropological fieldwork of a civic parade in Manchester from 2010 to 2012 to argue for engaging with creativity as a process rather than an attribute of a particular sector or individual. It shows how the focus on funding and supporting ‘creative industries’ defined as ‘cinema, television, music, literature, performing arts, heritage and related areas’ actually excludes and diminishes the potential for others to engage with ideas and creative processes. Two major events in Manchester’s cultural calendar – Procession by artist Jeremy Deller, produced by Manchester International Festival and Manchester Day Parade, a council-led civic celebration – both combined community groups with artist input to put large-scale structures and people on the city’s streets. In this ethnographic analysis, I argue that the ‘creativity’ sought from these artists is their adaptive and productive approach to making ideas tangible. By focusing on creativity as a process rather than a character trait, there is even greater potential for stimulating a ‘creative’ city.     

WORKING ON THE RAILWAY: THE RISEHILL TUNNEL NAVVY CAMP,CUMBRIA

Abstract

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Channel 4's Time Team at the site of a navvy camp associated with the construction of Risehill Tunnel (also called Black Moss) on the Settle to Carlisle railway line, near Garsdale in Cumbria. The evaluation, comprising eight trenches, LiDAR and geophysical survey, highlighted the generally good preservation of the site, although many of the buildings appear to have been of timber with only rough stone foundations. Specialisation and division of different parts of the site between settlement and working areas was also seen. Contemporary documentary evidence has assisted with the interpretation of the archaeological remains, and revealed the extreme conditions which the workers and their families endured.     

Grief as method: topographies of grief,care, and fieldwork from Northwest Arkansas to New York and the Marshall Islands

Abstract

When we grieve during fieldwork, our grief forms new geographies of knowledge production and emotion. In this article, I use autoethnography to theorize my grief during fieldwork following the death of my sister. I examine grief’s methodological implications using the concept of ‘grief as method,’ an emotionally-inflected practice that accounts for the vulnerability produced by grief. By centering vulnerability, ‘grief as method’ also urges researchers to consider the practices and politics of ‘caring with’ our research subjects and caring for ourselves, raising larger questions about the role of care in research. Furthermore, this article demonstrates how grief’s geographical features—its mobility, its emergence in new sites and landscapes, and its manifestation as both proximity and distance—shape ‘grief as method’ profoundly. I examine grief’s spatial implications by building on Katz’s ‘topography’ to theorize a ‘topography of grief’ that stitches together the emotional geographies of researchers, blurring both spatial divisions (‘the field’ vs. ‘the not-field’) and methodological ones (the ‘researcher-self’ vs. the ‘personal-self’). If we see grief as having a topography, then the relationships between places darkened by grief come into focus. Moreover, by approaching grief methodologically, we can better understand how field encounters—relationships between people—are forged through grief. ‘Grief as method,’ in offering a spatial analysis of grief’s impact on fieldwork, envisions a broader definition of what engaged research looks like and where it takes place.     

GLASS RECIPES AND THE OUTPUT FROM A 19TH-CENTURY GLASS WORKS: EXAMPLES FROM PERCIVAL,VICKERS & CO. LTD,MANCHESTER

Abstract

Excavations by Oxford Archaeology North in 2003 revealed extensive structural remains of the former Percival, Vickers and Co. Ltd glass works, one of the principal 19th-century glass manufactories in Manchester. A detailed account of the excavated remains, focusing on the significant developments in furnace design inherent in the exposed structures, has already been published in volume 29.1 (2007) of the Review. However, an in-depth analysis of the 187kg of glass fragments recovered from the excavation was omitted, and this shortcoming is addressed in the present paper. Scientific analysis of the glass compositions revealed that a variety of recipes were used, and these related closely to the different ways that glass was being worked on site, as evidenced by the various types of waste. A relatively small but nevertheless significant number of vessel fragments were also recovered, allowing the output of the glass works to be characterised for the first time.